Are you looking for the PERFECT way to celebrate Christmas in your classroom while also keeping the learning going strong? This game is an ALL TIME favorite with our preschoolers. They love adding marshmallows to make Santa’s beard, and they love even more to eat them when they’re done! We’ve included this free printable below so that you can use it at home or in your preschool classroom.

Supplies Needed:

Santa’s Beard Game Board (provided below!)
Marshmallows (or any small, white counting manipulative: white pom poms, cotton balls, small erasers, etc.)
Dice (one die for level 1, two dice for level 2)

How to Play:

I love, love, love this game when it comes to teaching young children, because it focuses on more than one math concept- say what?! I love to get as much as I can out of a learning activity, and this game does just that. This game focuses on counting, dot cube recognition, and number recognition.

Level 1: Roll one die, count the number of dots on the die, and then place a counter on the corresponding number. Continue until your game board is covered.

Level 2: Roll two dice and add them together. (If children cannot recognize the patterns on the dice, I always push them together and count how many dots there are in total.) One you have found the sum, place a counter on the corresponding number. Continue playing until your game board is covered. Level 2 is a great challenge for learners who need a little extra push!

Additional play: After filling up your game board, roll the die, count the dots, and take away a counter from the game board. Continue taking away (or eating the marshmallows one by one) until all of the counters have been removed.

Helpful Tips: If your child cannot recognize numbers yet, simply draw a number line on a piece of paper. Every time they roll, use your finger to touch the numbers on the number line and count up to it. For example, if you rolled a three, point and count on the number line “one, two, three, this is what a three looks like!”